Curation for Learning

Content curation is not about collecting links or being an information pack rat. It is more about putting resources into a context with organization, annotation, and presentation. Content curators provide a customized, vetted selection of the best and most relevant resources on a very specific topic.

Beth Kanter, a well-known social media author and blogger, provides this definition of curation:

Content curation is the process of sorting through the vast amounts of content on the web and presenting it in a meaningful and organized way around a specific theme. The work involves sifting, sorting, arranging, and publishing information. A content curator cherry picks the best content that is important and relevant to share with their community. It isn’t unlike what a museum curator does to produce an exhibition: They identify the theme, they provide the context, they decide which paintings to hang on the wall, how they should be annotated, and how they should be displayed for the public.

If the notion of content curation is new to you, or if you want to brush up on your understanding of the concept, choose from one of the following references to learn more.

Each of these resources reveals that content curation likely aligns well to what you already do when you design and develop your courses to facilitate learning. Here, we simply reframe the process and identify tools and strategies to assist you.

Extend Activity

What’s your definition of content curation? Which one of the above definitions do you like best? Send a tweet using #oextend with a link to a definition or description that resonates with you? Or blog about curation and Tweet the link to the blog with #oextend.